Growing a modern Victory Garden

This year (2017) I am going to grow a Victory Garden as a little bit of an experiment to see if a. I can actually do it and b. to see if I can wind up buying less from the supermarket.

Victory Gardens (or war gardens) were pioneered during World War I and World War II as a means to combat the food shortage that war brings to imports and exports. These gardens would encourage people to not rely so heavily on the public food supply, and this would ultimately aid the war effort on the home front. Over time these green spaces were considered a “morale booster”. Eventually, victory gardens played a major role in everyday life.

People at home were encouraged to ‘grow food with the land they have’ via propaganda. Growing plans such as these below were given out, and it’s these plans that I will be using as a guide to build my own victory garden, or at least – a victory patch. Hopefully by this time next year (Rodney) our fruit and vegetables will come entirely from the allotment.

Now, I’m yet to decide whether I’m going to make the entire allotment a victory garden or just a small patch – but my initial thoughts are to dedicate a fairly decent sized patch that I used for potatoes at the front of the plot, to this little project/experiment.

One of the other main motivations for this is to try and learn, or uncover some old fashioned growing techniques that still have a use or carry some weight in today’s garden.

I also plan to do some research and grow some vintage varieties – like those grown back in World War I or World War II. I may even try and track down some old fashioned recipes and storage techniques to share with you.

I hope to update you more on how I plan to lay out the patch, cultivate the ground and what varieties I plan to grow very soon.

Funny you mention that Mike, I didn’t think to grow corn. I think it’s because I’ve had a real problem with squirrels laying waste to a whole patch in the past. I have noticed people using chili powder on the leaves to deter them, so I may give them another go next year 🙂

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About me

Hello my name's Adam and I'm a 20-something gardener, blogger and proud allotment holder here in London, UK.
I love growing my own vegetables and experimenting in the the kitchen. My ideal Saturday or Sunday includes working up a sweat at my allotment in the morning, followed by a cup of tea admiring the views.
I've had an allotment for around 10 years now and I show no signs of stopping.